%%USERNAME%%    %%ACCWORDS%% %%ONOFF%% |
 |   Nothing official here; just come chill! |
|
Welcome! ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** Welcome to my little Den! Here you'll find all sorts of things- mostly blog challenges, but mixed in, you'll notice:  I'm a bit of a fangirl  My life is very busy I enjoy using emoticons  I don't tend to swear, but stuff happens. |
| ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** I went to aunt's place today to play with the baby- he wasn't there when I arrived, so aunt and I hung out for a bit- chatted about her exams （corporate accounting?) and how troublesome they were, and then discussed the lack of availability of TNS (The Next Step) episodes online. Afterwards, we watched Ghost in a Shell. It was definitely an interesting movie, and the concept of it really reminded me of this image- except, in the movie, they abducted runaway teens and turned them into android-humans with the ability to think and act like a robot, but still feel human emotions. There was one line in particular that struck me, actually, which was about how that scene, that situation, was the future of humanity. In other words, there is no humanity in the future if we keep on replacing people with computers. And there's a sad truth to that, too. Robots can't feel. They won't be sad or angry, or happy and excited when something happens. They just process it and move on. I actually just finished a book where the main character was like that- he'd gone through some trauma as a young kid, and as a result, all his emotions just turned off, as a coping mechanism. He'd learned to laugh, smile, frown, etc, at all the right times, so other humans thought he'd be normal, but behind those actions, there were no real emotions behind it. He ended up as a killer for some super-secret division of the government, of which nobody acknowledges the existence. So I suppose, what I'm trying to get at is, yes, technology is good, when used well. But emotions and everything else that makes humans, human, are also necessary. Otherwise, what sort of cruel, cold world will we be living in? I'm not sure I want to know. Though, on a brighter note, I've got something to say about this second image, too: ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** I see it more as a game of copy-cat. The alpaca is laughing, and so is the little girl. Who knows who started it, but it's a happy picture and it makes you happy.... Going back to the visit with aunt, after Ghost in a Shell was over, we were looking through her movie list to see what else there was we could watch while eating dinner, and Why Him? came up. I remember Mom had said it was a good, funny movie, so I pointed it out and so aunt put it on. Little did we know that it would be full of profanity.  And in front of a curious 4-year-old, that's prooobably not the best idea.  And so it proved to be. About 10 minutes in, Baby repeated something (I didn't actually hear it, but it was probably bad- I'm guessing either the S or F word... sounded like a "Ssss" sound, so I'm guessing S.  ) from the movie and the mom (aunt) went  and covered his mouth. We warned him it was a baaad, baad word. We turned off the movie and switched to Doctor Strange. So now he knows, that word is a BAD word, and he should never say it, no matter how angry he is. All was forgiven, though, since, as I pointed out, he didn't know (despite our warnings throughout ) that was a bad word, though now he does and he will never, EVER say it again.  Annnnd at the end of my visit, we taught him about kidnapping and how he should say no to strangers approaching him and offering to take him away with them. I was giving him a huge hug and then asked if I could kidnap him and bring him back with me, and he's all "noooo! " So I asked his mom if he understood what "kidnap" meant. She said no, so I turned to him and told him, "if anyone ever asks, 'Can I kidnap you?' Run away. Fast!" So aunt expanded on the lesson, saying "even if people say 'Hey, little boy! You're so cute! Want to come with me? I have candy!  ' Make sure you say no!""And run away!" I added. And then asked him again, "Can I take you with me? Pleeeease?"He gave a cheeky look, then ran to his mom and went "Nooooo!" So his mom praised him and said, "Good boy! Even if Dragon asks to take you, you say no, okay? Only with Mommy or Daddy's permission." So, he had a life lesson today on kidnapping.... though someone will need to tell him how pregnancy works... aunt's baby dolphin plushie pillow apparently had 120 babies in her stomach, and so did I, according to his analysis of the "x-rays" he got from my phone.  His Blue Snuffles also had babies, being a boy Snuffles..... |
| ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** Honestly? I'm just writing this so I can stay awake. I got about 3 hours of quality sleep last night and we're in another meeting that's going to last for who knows how long this time, so let's see where this takes me.... I saw this image while looking through the entries in the 30DIC forum and something about what Kit  said, about the boundaries not being crossed, struck me. It's not a sibling thing, like she said. More like a friendship thing. Online friends, international friends, friends from home while you're away. That little break in the snow, in a way, represents the whole world. I'd love to fly everywhere and meet all my online friends- have them visit me. Or, some portal needs to be invented so we can all use it to visit each other, regardless of time zones and airline fees and such. I'd love to visit the friends here in Australia, that I've met these two semesters, and it'd be equally awesome to have them visit me in CA. Something about the picture- the younger girl looks scared to cross that strip of uncovered ground, even at the older girl's urging, it seems. It's like the game I played in middle school with my friends- we'd jump down stairs, starting with the first one, then going up one more with each successful jump when our turn came. It looks like the younger girl's reached her limit- she's at that stair where she's afraid to jump down, and even with an older sibling there to guide her, it's just not going to happen. Kinda like how it feels sometimes when you want to meet your friends, but they live halfway around the world. Even with the technology for us to buy a plane ticket and travel, it's not going to happen. |
| What's the greatest fast food indulgence no longer available that you wish would come back and be something you can get at any time? I'm just skipping ahead to this prompt because, yeah, I've actually got something to say about this, as opposed to what Thomas Edison would say about podcasting. With that said, I wish McDonald's would bring back their deep-fried apple pies. Lots and lots of years ago, they stopped frying their pies, and began baking them. Even re-named them as turnovers. It's terrible! I mean, why would they bake the pie instead of fry them, when frying them was already extremely delicious? I'm lucky that they still have them fried here in Australia, so I can get them here, but just not in America.  I was actually just discussing this issue with CG, and he calls it blasphemous. I agree with him, wholeheartedly. It's not the same! A turnover is not a pie. Baked stuff may be the healthy alternative to fried stuff, but who goes to get fast food and gets something healthy? That kinda goes against all rules of fast food- and healthiness.  And they deep fry pretty much everything there, anyways, so why stop with the apple pies?  Maybe next time I go to the city I'll go pick one up.  |
| Last night (see "Note: Congratulations to our..."), another bunch of WDC authors (including a couple in this month's 30DBC *Bigsmile*) were promoted to Preferred Author! Go out and get to know them...post a note in their notebook, say hi and congratulate them, tag the note in your entry, and tell us a little bit of what you learned. Check out one of their items and tell us what you think. Well, see, I already did. I left notes in everyone's notebook- "Note: OMG YOU ARE YELLOW!!!!! Congrats! *^*Bigsmi...", "Note: Congrats on making Yellow! *Bigsmile*
...", "Note: ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only **
Hey...".... do I need to post them all? Annd I'm gonna be lazy and just use Hanna ~ Be Kind 💕  because we've talked quite a bit, so I do know her pretty well by now. She's also a plushie fan, and is majorly cute- in an endearing way. She's also jumped on the Hi-5 AND TNS bandwagons. Need I say more?  She's like a Mini-Me, in terms of interests Watch out, peeps.  |
| Holiday fireworks at being held at your house this year. Your Uncle Festus, who served time in prison for arson, will be in attendance. What do you tell your guests and family to look out for? Uncle Festus? Sounds like someone from the Addams Family. Oh, right, that's Uncle Fester. Hmmm, though if we had a relative in prison for arson, I'm not sure he'd be welcome back in the family anymore. That would be problem solved. Also, why would you have fireworks when there's someone there who's known to be dangerous around fire? It's like asking to die. Or asking him to commit another crime. There's so many ways this situation could be avoided in general. Don't invite Uncle Festus. Don't have fireworks. Especially not at your house! You want to be homeless because he burns down your place?  Okay, to actually answer the question.... Be careful of Uncle Fester- keep him AWAY from the fireworks, and any matches. Or anything that could start a fire. And make sure there's water or sand handy, to quelch any unwanted fires that may start. Oh, and just look out for Uncle Festus in general. |
| Talk Tuesday! Do you consider hot dogs to be in the "sandwich" category? What about tacos, wraps, or foods served in pita breads? And what, in your opinion, makes a really good sandwich? Are you a simple bread/meat/cheese person, or do you go all-out when creating your sandwich feast? Okay, let's just start out with, there's a reason a sandwich is called a sandwich. Something is squashed in between two pieces of bread- that's a sandwich. Burgers are pushing it, but tacos and wraps? Nope. Wraps are wraps. They're wrapped in a tortilla, not squashed between bread. You wouldn't call a burrito a sandwich, would you? Tacos are... somewhere in between wraps and quesadillas, which, for the record, aren't sandwiches either. As for a good sandwich... I think as long as it's a toastie, I'll more than likely eat it. I'm not picky. Although, it must have cheese and tomato- and the bread must be buttered on all four sides. It's not healthy, I know, but hey, they're toasties. And they're yummy, and easy-ish to make. So that ticks pretty much all my boxes for a good meal. Oh, melted cheese, and chutney is a good combo in pretty much all sandwiches, too. Tomato Chutney, especially.... yum!Here in Australia, toasties are pretty big- they're also called Jaffles. Out of convenience for me, though, I've stopped using bread for my toasties and started using a tortilla instead. There's a bunch of killer Jaffle/toastie recipes online if you look for them- one I like to do is cheese and spinach tortellini in melted cheese, in a folded tortilla. Add in the obligatory hot sauce, and yum! Eggs are also a good sandwich/toastie/toastie-tilla ingredient, but you've gotta make sure you either fry that ahead of time, to slide onto your sandwich when it's time, or if you're going the tortilla route, put that egg on rather early, because it takes a while for the egg to cook if it's not directly on the pan. I mean, in general, you can't go wrong with eggs and cheese. And if you add in some pasta in marinara sauce, that just makes it super tasty. Another variation I've made recently is just cheese and diced veggies- onions and bell peppers, and maybe add an egg, and, of course, tomato. A toastie I have yet to try (but do have the ingredients for) is a tinned spaghetti and cheese toastie. It sounds quite good, but I just haven't had the motivation to cook up the spaghetti. Salami is also a good choice of meat for your sandwiches/toasties. Though that definitely needs cheese and tomato. Recently, at the Qantas Club Lounge (airline lounge) they've started having this gluten-free white bread that makes extremely delicious toasties- there's a panini press/sandwich presser there for breakfast and lunch, so I put cheese, tomato, and tomato chutney onto the sandwich then slide it onto the press thingy- when you take it out, the bread is the perfect amount of crunchy and chewy, and the insides are just as yummy. Of course, though, you need to cut it into triangles, because a toastie just isn't a toastie if it's not cut into triangles. For your pleasure: 12 Decadent Jaffle recipes that'll blow your mind  You drooling yet? |
| Motivational Monday! Author L. Frank Baum , born on this day back in 1856, once said (regarding his youthful audience's expanding imaginations): "Imagination has brought mankind through the Dark Ages to its present state of civilization...I believe that dreams- day dreams, you know, with your eyes wide open and your brain machinery whizzing- are likely to lead to the betterment of the world." Are you a writer who is shaped by imagination and daydreaming in order to creates, or are you more like someone whose imagination first needs stimulating through the creations of others? I think this is a two-way street, isn't it? I mean, can't you be both? I think I am. My imagination, I'll admit, is actually rather morbid when it comes to creating scenes and such, so I stick to the soft and fluffy plushie stories and kids stuff like Hi-5 to keep me sane. Otherwise, if I went down the dark route, I'm not sure I'd actually find my way back. With that said.... before my daydreams became more like day-mares, my daydreams were actually fantasies of me meeting Hi-5. I vividly remember being in dharma meetings and writing stories in my journal about girls going to a Hi-5 concert with their school (I think that's how the kids get in the TV audience, actually- school field trips. It's one of those things I saw online when I was still learning the in and outs of the internet, so probably 5th or 6th grade? ) And then as I grew up, it'd be more about the characters staying back after the show, and getting hired by the group. I've since lost those journals/diaries, which is rather unfortunate, because it'd be cool to unearth them and see what I used to write, but I do remember having one that was 50+ written pages. And I thought I had one in another journal I used to keep, but apparently not....Anyways, those were the imagination/daydream stories and they kinda all turned out the same. Plot-wise, at least. So in that respect, it probably was a good thing that I started on WdC, because I've written so much more than (and less of) Hi-5 fanfiction, with all the different prompt varieties on this site. These days, with all my essays and schoolwork, the creative well is pretty dry, unfortunately. So yeah, that means I need ALOT of outside stimulation if I'm ever going to write anything. I think that's pretty evident from the lack of items in my 2017 folder, which is kinda sad, considering this is a writing site. But I just don't have time!  Pictures, on the other hand, are somewhat of a different story, because there's just something about them that makes it somewhat easier to work with. I guess it's visual, so you can see what you like/don't like, and pinpoint where something is missing or isn't right, whereas with writing, you're trying to string words together into an original combination that nobody else has tried to use before. And, I don't know... maybe drawing doesn't take as long, because I know what I want something to look like when I set out to draw it, but when I'm writing, I don't always know what my end goal is, or how I want the story or poem to be after the first few words. I suppose that's also why I've leaned more towards poetry recently- it's a quicker way to maybe get my thoughts down, and in free-verse, pretty much anything goes, with a little editing. |
| The (not quite) Sunday News! Mother's Day is Sunday in the US, and these kids had some unfortunate things to say about what their parents did . In honor of that, make us laugh and tell us something you might've said innocently about your folks when you were a kid that in retrospect maybe you shouldn't have said. In honor of Mother's Day...... How to make your mom feel old in one sentence and a couple actions: I was really young- like, before we moved to the US, young. Soooo maybe 3-4 years old? Could run, walk, talk, understand familiar relations, etc. The adults were all having a dharma meeting, and Sis was asleep in Mom's lap. Meanwhile, I was running around HQ doing heck knows what, but I had Show (my doll) with me: "Invalid Item" . I got some bright idea in my mind, that Show wanted something from Mom, and I ran back into the room, waving Show in front of me, and went "Grandma! Grandma!" Everyone turned and looked at Mom, and started giggling. So there was that.... Though if you're just talking about antics and stuff I did when I was also little, there's also no shortage of those. I was not a small child, so I got stuck in many different (and rather interesting) places. I got my leg stuck between a pole and the window before, and in a window as well. (two different occasions, possibly same reason, to wave bye to Grandfather). I also rather enjoyed climbing. I remember climbing out of my playpen as soon as I was big enough to hoist myself up onto the railing part of the thing, and then swinging my leg over, to get out. naturally, I kept that secret for a little while before showing off the new "skill" to Mom, who definitely wasn't impressed that I could get out. I've also climbed cabinets for fun- and sometimes, I still do. Trees, too. To the point where I scared Mom after we moved to the States.... You see, I HAD climbed a tree with my friends in Pre-K, in Tassie. It's one of those all-girls schools that goes from teeny tiny to grade 12. The "big girls"- K-12 were separated from the little kids by a hedge. Which had a tunnel, and gate. Technically, the little kids shouldn't be going into the big kids' side, and vice versa, but we were kinda daring back then, and aunt did attend school on the big kids' side sometimes, so she'd meet us at the gate occasionally as well. So I guess you could say going into the hedge was a normal thing for us... whether or not it was against the rules. We found some nice trees in there as well, and climbed them rather often, until that one day I got stuck in a tree. I'm pretty sure it was one of those "I'm higher!" "No, I am!" "Hey, look how high I am!" situations where everyone tries to keep getting higher up than everyone else until someone backs down. Or, in this case, someone's smock gets stuck. The back of my smock had caught on another branch, and left me hanging there- literally. And sis had to go get the teacher to unhook me and get me down. I think we missed a couple recesses after that, actually, but more than likely, it didn't really deter us. The teacher probably wrote it in our diary, though, which is how Mom found out. Yeah, so I won the character award for "courage" the first month I arrived at school in the US. Mom was rather concerned- she actually asked the teacher if I had climbed another tree. Turns out, I got the award because I didn't cry on the first day of school. I started in March, so everyone else was already settled, and I was the only new kid there. I've gotten into more trouble at the Tassie school too, actually. There were statues of emus and such en route from the canteen, and every now and then two out of us four (sis, me, Carla, and Shannon) would get to go pick up lunch, and we'd go "ride" on the statues. Okay, sit. But we'd pretend they were moving, and therefore, we got to ride on emus. and sometimes we'd be having lotsa fun to where lunch got cold, or we forgot we were supposed to be delivering lunch back to the class. So yes, we did get caught doing that too. |
| Creation Saturday! What's your purpose? How am I supposed to know?! I remember talking to Kit about the prompt when it came out.... I suppose I could go down the religious route and say something about how I should be saving and delivering sentient beings, and educating the world and all that.... Like, today, actually, one of my friends asked me for a "Buddhism 101 in 5 minutes" and neither of us really knew where to start, so we ended up discussing reincarnation. It was a pretty nice conversation, actually, and he mentioned wanting to "get more involved," which, I unfortunately can't help him with, much. Although, seeing as this is Creation Saturday I suppose I'll have to make something up. My purpose is a plushie nanny. And hey, why not? I've helped a good number of plushies go through "surgery"- being stitched back up when their humans were too rough, or when they ate too much and their threads kinda just popped open. There was Baby Pooh in Tas, Anteater in TX, Pooh in TX, and then I fixed Baby's dharma garment as well. It was very simple sewing- just a button thingy that needed re-threading back on to the main garment. Plus I'm almost always adopting some new plushie or another, so why not just make it official, yeah? I'm a plushie nanny, and that's my side job when I'm not studenting. Gotta make sure all the plushies are getting along with each other, not causing too much trouble/mischief, and keeping their glitter festivals on roomie's side of the place. And then I turn on the TV for them when Hi-5 is on. Thankfully, plushies can clean after themselves- they make pretty, glittery pictures to hang up once they're done partying, and hang them up everywhere for all plushies and humans to see. I also keep them in check when things get a little out of hand. So that might include too much sugar or too much fun, and their energy crashes, and I'll settle them into bed, make sure they're warm and cozy, and don't wake up until a few hours later. Or if their human is a toddler and playing too rough, the plushies get to time-out/rest/recover on my bed. And I don't mind, because that just means more plushie friends for me! More practically speaking, though, I suppose there's always the "be a good daughter/filial piety" stuff at the base of Chinese culture- don't shame your parents, listen to/obey what they say, keep your family's honor, don't lose face, etc. But that is a whole other, messy route I'd rather not go down, because I obviously don't do that. So let's stick with being a plushie nanny, shall we? |
| Fun Fact Friday! On this day in 1847, William Clayton invented the odometer. How do you measure your speed or distance? I actually saw an interesting response to this prompt on Instagram this morning, on Jessie J's account. Here it is! She posts some really thoughtful images on her account, actually. Much more than her tough exterior might lead you to believe. Anyways, back to the prompt- I do agree with Jessie J. It made me stop and think, actually. I mean, everyone's so caught up on growing up, getting out of whatever it is they're in- the house, school, work, etc, that they don't stop to think about where they're going. Luke Bryan actually has a song about that, too, that I'll post at the bottom when I'm done. Back to the prompt, again. Speed and distance. My first thought was "ugh, not physics again," because we did, actually, have a many speed/distance assignment(s) in high school. It included a field trip to Magic Mountain, which I opted to not attend, because I had dance class that afternoon. Anyways, if we're going for a literal meaning to this prompt, grab a stopwatch/timer and a measuring tape of sorts. Measure out a set distance (maybe one end of the room to the other) and then time yourself walking naturally and see how long it takes you to get from point A to point B. Distance divided by time = speed. As for your own personal distance, if we're doing this literally again, count your strides and divide the distance by the number of strides it took for you to get there, which will get you your distance, per stride.  If we're going down Jessie J and Luke Bryan's route though, I suppose distance is how far you've come since a given point in time. Figurative distance is difficult to measure- do you just say "I suppose I've come 100 feet from my starting point since I joined Writing.Com"? Not really. Though some people do use their hands to indicate, once more figuratively, how "far" they might have come, or how "far" one thing is from another, like standards or performance. With that said, I think direction is just as important, if not more important, than distance. You need to make sure you're headed in the right direction before you start off, otherwise, what's the point? I'll be the first to admit I honestly had no direction at all when I started uni. I just went because it was expected of me. Did I know what I wanted to do? Nope. Did my mom? Yep. So I went in as an undecided/undeclared major until the orientation, when they noted the education major was new and open to people switching over. I went there, as the obedient daughter. Then, the next quarter, I added on psychology as a double major, as planned by Mom. I enjoyed the education subjects enough, yes, but psychology was slightly boring and slightly shudder-inducing when we had to learn about all the different things that could go wrong with the brain, and I just wasn't clicking with it. I kept on, though, until last semester, when I barely passed Personality+Social Psych- if getting a 50% final grade when 50% is passing wasn't a clear enough sign, I think someone would need some neon, flashing sign saying "Get out of Psychology while you can!" So I have, now, and I do feel better. Linguistics is much more interesting to me, somehow. Words, and their origins, and grammar, and all that stuff. Chinese is interesting, too, learning about my heritage culture and language.Speed... this one is probably easier than distance. That's just how fast (or slow) you're going. Although, to measure speed, you need a start and end point. Assuming that end point is a goal you've got- a finished essay, final project, dream you'd like to achieve, etc- you can set the "speed" as how long it takes you to achieve that goal from when you set it. Though, like I said before, and Jessie J said, and Luke Bryan said- don't focus on the speed! Focus on where you want to go. That end product, and how it makes you feel when you've accomplished it, because I'll bet it feels so much better to achieve a goal than to analyze how quickly or slowly that goal came to fruition. Annnd Luke Bryan: [Embed For Use By Upgraded+] |
View Portfolio
Visit Notebook
Send Gift Points
Awards
Badges
Send Email
Community Newsfeed
General Discussion
Sponsored Items
Book of Trinkets
Static Items
Books
Groups
Interactive Stories
Audio
Campfire Creatives
Community Notes
Crossword Puzzles
Documents
Folders
Images
In & Outs
Madlibs
Photo Albums
Polls
Product Reviews
Quizzes
Survey Forms
Web Pages
Word Searches
PassKey Override Available
I wish you all the best, my friend. May all your dreams come true. 
